A long felt need has existed for means to extend the range and armament capability of rotary wing and other military aircraft. All aircraft design makes compromise between fuel (range) and useful payload (armament).
One of the most versatile tactical aircraft is the helicopter that is well suited to both day and night operations due to it's unique ability to hover. Hovering, or moving slowly close to the terrain, Nape of the Earth flight, is however, costly in terms of fuel used. Therefore, for rotary wing aircraft, fully armed, to have sufficient mission time the provision for land based or ship-based logistic and servicing areas, within easy flight distance, is absolutely necessary.
The provision for land or sea-based fuel and ordance dumps carrys within itself certain costs. It is axiomatic, for example, that a squadron of helicopters cannot travel much further or much faster than the required logistic support apparatus. It is one thing to ferry a helicopter across the United States, knowing there are airfields with fuel. Quite another when the mission is remote from the shores of the United States and no secure or appropriate facilities exist. Both aircraft and required fuel and ordance travel with the pace of the slowest essential element of the support apparatus.
The present invention discloses an aircraft having means for retrieving both rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft in flight, and means for selectively moving these retrieved aircraft from one mount element to another so as to position the retrieved aircraft over servicing bays from which access to the retrieved aircraft may be secured. The aircraft so positioned for servicing then being refueled and rearmed.
The invention answers a long felt need to extend the logistic support apparatus closer to an area of combat operations, and to provide greater logistic support to the combat forces operating within the zone.
Further, the present invention teaches constructive reduction to practice in the art of dynamically stabilizing such retrieved aircraft on the carrier so as to facilitate the safe, efficient and timely delivery of retrieved aircraft to a destination, or for the fast, unimpeded movement, and launch of missiles that heretofore have been too large for launch by aircraft.